Anime Winter 2018

Smudge ended up getting us both involved in Final Fantasy XIV right as the current anime season started, and that’s been taking up much of our free time, so we only saw a few series this time:

A Place Further Than the Universe — The initial description for this series was completely incoherent, but this turned out to the the hit of the season. Four high-school age girls end up as part of an expedition to Antarctica. As usual with Japanese series of this type, it shows some real research and care with the subject, and the characterization is great, with everyone having good reasons for getting involved. The four primary characters grow, and are very good for each other. Highly recommended.

Last Man — Finally just saw the end of the series a few days ago. It comes to a very well done ending, but I hope we get a ‘part 2’ or something. So far as I know, we’re still not at where the graphic novels pick up.

Yamato 2199 — I wasn’t entirely sure on the dub at first, but it’s gotten good. The series itself, is of course, excellent. We really need more remakes like this.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride — This is continuing with a few different story arcs, and overall, I’m liking it better than the first season. It’s been well-produced all along, but the writing seems to have settled into its groove now.

Pokemon Sun and Moon — The current Pokemon series has continued to be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the streaming service of them reset to the beginning after the two Kanto episodes. So it’s going to be a while before I get to see more.

Garo: Vanishing Line — The second half of the series was largely ‘on the road’ and built up to a good climax sequence. Overall, a good story that hangs together all the way through. The mood and style are very good along with the characters, and the plot is solid if not exceptional.

Black Clover — The other continuing series from the previous season, we’re well behind on it now, having only taken the time for a few episodes. While it is in many ways a bog-standard fight-anime (and surprisingly low-budget at times), I’m enjoying it at the moment. The current plot lines have been much more interesting than the beginning (expanding the cast didn’t hurt), and as long as it can avoid dragging things out, I’ll continue to watch it.

Darling in the Franxx — I’ve only seen the first two episodes. Smudge had some problems with the… controls for the mechs, though coming from the people who did Kill la Kill…. We’ll probably give this more of a try, but feelings are decidedly mixed.

Also, Smudge started me on one continuing series:

March Comes in Like a Lion — Pure character drama centered around Shogi. I’ve only gotten through the initial (13-episode) season, and partway through the second (together being the first series), and am liking it quite a bit. The creator definitely gets people and animals, and the art style is nicely done in the series.